According to “Classification and Determination of Constitution in TCM” by China Association of Chinese Medicine, the constitution of human bodies includes nine types, namely, balanced constitution (constitution of yin-yang harmony), phlegm-dampness constitution, yin-deficiency constitution, qi (vital energy)-deficiency constitution, phlegm-dampness (tanshi) constitution, dampness-heat constitution, qi-depression constitution, blood-stasis constitution, and allergic (special, tebing) constitution. Most of them belong to sub-health status.
The phlegm-dampness constitution manifests phlegm-dampness retention caused by phlegm formation due to dampness accumulation when the functions of internal organs (zang and fu) of the human body dysfunction, which easily leads to disordered transportation and transformation of qi (vital energy)-blood and body fluid, and water and dampness stagnation, usually showing obesity, fat abdomen, chest distress, excessive phlegm, drowsiness liability, heavy body and unpleasantness, addiction to greasy food and pure liquor, swelling tongue, and white greasy tongue fur, and is mostly caused by invasion of coldness and dampness, improper diet, inborn endowment, oldness and long illness, and lack of exercises, with different symptoms usually due to different parts of the phlegm-dampness retention. When being attacked, the phlegm-dampness patients tend to develop diabetes, stroke, chest obstruction and so on, with poor adaptability to plum rains and damp environments. An important treatment is eliminating dampness and phlegm, together with balancing and improving the phlegm-dampness constitution to prevent occurrence of the phlegm-dampness diseases.
The phlegm-dampness constitution, being a sub-health constitution, belongs to chronic conditions with a relatively long course, and requires long-term administration and gradual regulation so as to achieve the effects of eliminating dampness and phlegm. The common Chinese medicine dosage form includes decoction and Chinese patent drug such as pills. The decoction has a better efficacy, but is tedious to take, and the taste thereof is also bad. It is not easy for patients to persistently take decoction for a long period of time, while the efficacy of pills is relatively poor.
Food is the best for preventing diseases and keeping healthy for human beings. “Homology between medicine and food” is one of the most valuable contributions of original Chinese medical science to the human beings. According to “Rites of Zhou⋅Tianguan⋅Curing Sickness”, curing diseases by combining five tastes, five cereals, and five medicines, which indicates the physiological health-care function of food. A method of regulating organism using properties of food to get healthy or cure diseases is called as food therapy (nutrition therapy, dietary therapy). However, “nourishment” is better than “therapy”. Dietary nourishment refers to nourishing by combining nutritional effects of food with the physical condition of the body to enhance resistibility and immunity, and further to prolong life and have a strong physique. According to “Qian Jin Prescriptions”, a doctor should firstly know the source of a disease and symptoms, then treat the disease with corresponding food. If the disease cannot be cured through food therapy, then a medicine is used. It can be seen that the application of food therapy is not only the basic treatment means of doctors at that time, but also an important ground for evaluating whether a doctor has excellent medical skills.
It is proposed in “Huangdi Neijing” that “making preventive treatment before getting illness is the top-class medical skill, performing treatment when illness is suspected is the middle-class medical skill, and performing treatment when illness is present is the lower-class medical skill”. “Making preventive treatment before getting illness” refers to taking corresponding measures to prevent occurrence and development of illness. The constitution determines our health and susceptibility to diseases. In the face of various diseases, increasingly low morbidity age, and more and more sub-healthy population, the food therapy is favored by more and more consumers due to its advantages of being healthy and natural. With regard to problems easily arising, it is of critical significance to develop a type of food having the function of maintaining good health and regulating phlegm-dampness constitution with good taste by combining the precious experience of traditional Chinese health care and accumulation of good aspects of keeping the balanced constitution of the traditional Chinese medicine, using technologies and methods of modern sciences, based on the homology between medicine and food.